Fistula is not only a disease, it is a disaster- Professor Dr. Abu Jafar

Moin Mahmood : A two-day international conference on the pledge to eliminate obstetric fistula among women by 2030 concluded on Friday in Dhaka. Earlier on Thursday afternoon, the conference organized by the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) was inaugurated at the legendary hall of the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital.
Chief advisor. Muhammad Yunus was virtually present as the chief guest at the event. During this time he motivated the fistula surgeons and wished them good luck for the conference. Apart from this, Health and Family Welfare Ministry Advisor Noorjahan Begum, Health Advisor Special Assistant Professor Dr. Md. Saidur Rahman was present as a special guest.

Ten institutions and organizations, including the Obstetric and Gynecological Society of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Association of Urological Surgeons, UNFPA, USAID, and ICDDRB, helped organize this two-day conference. In addition to nearly 400 delegates from Bangladesh, 91 fistula experts and researchers from Africa, Asia, America, and Europe participated in this conference.
Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, a member of the health reform commission formed by the government and a scientist at ICDDRB, presented the main article in the afternoon session on Friday, the last day of the conference.

He said the estimated number of women with fistula in the country is 17 thousand 457. Among them, 3 thousand 109 people underwent surgery last year. This means 82 percent of women are out of treatment.
At this time, the Director General of the Department of Health Professor Dr. Abu Zafar said that fistula is not only a disease, it is a disaster. To get rid of this, it is necessary to increase deep awareness and participation of all.
In a separate round table meeting, lawyers Rashna Imam, Abdun Noor Tushar, and others spoke about the need and ways to increase awareness among people.
At the conference, the 9-point Dhaka declaration on fistula prevention and treatment was adopted worldwide.
It said that to achieve the target by 2030, fistula issues need to focus on accessible and quality maternal health care, awareness raising, early diagnosis and treatment, counseling, trained manpower, quality medical facilities, ethics, rehabilitation, and research.
In her speech, President Prof. Saeba Akhtar said that Bangladesh is fully committed to the goal of eliminating fistula by 2030. We are increasing the quality of primary health care to reach better health care for women in every region of the country.